The Bastion's Preliminary Selection

[Raihex]

An announcement from the Astral Knight Captain.

In the most recent class, Solis Equisol has hinted towards the first exam that the squires will undertake on their journey to become Knights. A number of days have passed since that day, and silence fell until an official announcement has finally been made with the squires gathered as the Knight Captain's audience.

Listen well, diamonds in the rough!
What I'm about to say will determine your future as a member of the Bastion.

As some of you may already know, the first exam that you squires will face is
a test of your might. Without it, your future as a Knight will look bleak.
Without might, your chances of survival in a real battlefield are next to none.

A Knight without might is as good as a walking corpse, and therefore I shall
be testing your ability to survive what lies ahead of your journey.

In the next year, you will face your fellow squires, and those who fail to survive
this preliminary selection will be permanently suspended of their duties.

There is no second chance after this, so make it count!

The rules are the following.

Ⅰ. You shall not kill your fellow squire.
Ⅱ. The battles must take place in an open area.
Ⅲ. Upon victory, you gain one point.
Ⅳ. Upon defeat, you lose one point.
Ⅴ. If the age difference is large enough, the point loss is doubled for the older, and point gain is doubled for the younger.
Ⅵ. No holding back.
Ⅶ. A successful capture awards the captor one additional point.
Ⅷ. A captive must be marked with a red armband with the captor's name written on it.
Ⅸ. A captive marked with a red armband must meet Solis Equisol to have the armband removed.
Ⅹ. A captive marked with a red armband engaging in battle will be disqualified along with their opponent.
Ⅺ. In case of battles with multiple combatants, the points are divided amongst the victors based on how many opponents they are facing, but the losers' point loss is still one.

Only official members of the Bastion and those granted a special exception
will be granted points in the preliminary selection.

And speaking of special exceptions...
Ariamis Caewynn of Elzara has offered to help the Bastion, and therefore he will be participating!
Though, as a member of Elzara and not the Bastion, he is granted two special rules.

The special rules are...

Ⅻ. The point gain and loss when engaging Ariamis Caewynn is ten times the normal amount.
XIII. The squires who place below Ariamis Caewynn will be permanently suspended from the Bastion at the end of the Preliminary Selection.

Good luck, you unpolished gems.

❖

---

The ranking updates will be posted bi-daily on this thread to keep you informed about your current standings. If you are in need of an invitation to the Aphros' Bastion guild, seek out a high-ranking member of the guild, or reach out to me through Discord (Raihex#0001).

DATE: Until 9th of January.

[Raihex]

(I forgot that on the 31st I won't be able to post a bi-daily update, so I'm going to do one today and continue on the 2nd of January.)

The rankings have been updated!

Good morning, squires!
I am surprised that many of you have already been collecting a large sum of points.

This week's record holder is Hanzel Dominic, congratulations!

You will find the rankings pinned on the bulleting board of the Bastion's barracks. Keep up the good work!

The red line is a deadly one, so beware.

A short announcement from the Knight Captain followed with a new piece of information being awarded to keep the squires motivated.


(If you can't find yourself in the rankings, you're most likely not apart of the Bastion guild in-game.)

[Raihex]

The rankings have been updated!

Half a year has passed since the announcement of the Preliminary Selection. Many squires have given up hope, and many have had the fire burning within them reignite by the Knight Captain's challenge. This has given a raise in quality of the Bastion's squires over the months, providing Aphros with worthy defenders to their home.

But, the selection is far from over. The squires were woken up in the middle of the night to attend a meeting where the Knight Captain announced the Preliminary Selection's change.

Ehm, erm...

Good morning, squires!

Some of you seem to have already amassed enough points to be considered a capable fighter, and some of you have fallen low enough to be considered detriments to the Bastion.
Moving forward, I will be making the point gathering harder for those who have already proven their worth.
Those of you who were looking to merely amass points from weaklings will now be faced with a little obstacle in your way, as you will no longer be awarded points from human debris.

With that said, the top 3 squires are currently...
Hanzel Dominic,
Lydia Dominic,
and lastly, Asmodeus Montelione.

Moving forward, they're known as top scorers...

After explaining what challenge the top scorers would face, the following rules are being added.

ⅪV. The squires with negative points no longer award a point to the victor, but they still lose points if they're defeated.
XV. A squire who defeats one of the top scorers will be awarded five points, and ten points if they capture them.
XVI. A top scorer will lose five points upon losing a battle, and ten points if they're captured.

The new rankings can be found on the barracks' wall.

❖

[Raihex]

The rankings have been updated!

After a moment of silence, the rankings have yet again been updated.

With the appearance of hel-kind, you're allowed to hunt them down if you're feeling confident in making it out alive.

This is your last chance to make it into the passing grade!

The following rules are being added.

XVII. If you defeat a demon, you get two points instead of one.

The new rankings can be found on the barracks' wall.

❖